[esarai]

Morning Hard Light,

I suddenly, shockingly realized that despite how much a SciFi and Fantasy fan I am, I am poorly versed in decent titles other than the most easily recognizable works ever.  So I come to you for help.  Could you give me some titles that are an absolute must read?  And hell, even if they aren't in the genres, suggest them anyways. 

[Mustang19]

Oh I thought you meant a custom title.

So you've read snow crash, Heinlein, Orson Scott Card and all that already, right?

[Dark Hunter]

I recommend looking into an author by the name of Charles Sheffield. He writes some good SF.

In particular, I liked Godspeed and Between the Strokes of Night.

[The E]

Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, Anathem
Charles Stross - Accelerando, Glasshouse, Halting State, Saturn's Children, The Atrocity Archives
John Scalzi - Old Man's War
Richard Morgan - Altered Carbon

[Black Wolf]

I've been reading Peter Hamilton for awhile now, yetcyo be disappointed. I guess he's reasonably recognizable though.

[The E]

Oohhhh, How could I forget

Iain M Banks - The Player Of Games, Consider Phlebas, Use of Weapons, Excession, Surface Detail in that order

[Colonol Dekker]

A little bit of Seth Dickinson never goes amiss i'm told

[The E]

Yeah, but it's not like his publications are easy to pick up in a book store.

[CommanderDJ]

A little bit of Seth Dickinson never goes amiss i'm told

I can testify to this. 

[Unknown Target]

For good cheese, Timothy Zahn's "The Icarus Hunt" is a fun sci fi romp.

[General Battuta]

For good cheese, Timothy Zahn's "The Icarus Hunt" is a fun sci fi romp.

Zahn really was a good time. He's not very sophisticated but he's a good intro to SF.

[Luis Dias]

"The Player of games" is a classic for me. Couldn't help but repeat the reading for it, I highly support E's recommendations.

... annnnd there's always Douglas Adams.

[StarSlayer]

I generally enjoyed the books from the Honor Harrington books by David Weber.  I obviously like science fiction and old Age of Sail books like the Richard Bolitho series and the Harrington Series is a nice meld of those themes.  Its certainly harder scifi then Star Wars but not diamond dense as the stuff tutta usually advocates.

[General Battuta]

I liked the second Honor Harrington book a lot, but felt the series got long-winded and dry and a bit ridiculous as it went.

Listing off all of the ways Honor Harrington is overpowered by the eleventh book is a fun party game though.

[StarSlayer]

I liked the second Honor Harrington book a lot, but felt the series got long-winded and dry and a bit ridiculous as it went.

Listing off all of the ways Honor Harrington is overpowered by the eleventh book is a fun party game though.

I generally go on a tear and just consume books like a fire when I get a decent series, to the point where I often forgive quite a bit.

[The E]

Yeah, even though I am a fan of the HH series, I do consider the latest offerings (basically everything between and including Mission of Honor and At All Costs) to be a real low point in the series. The Shadow Of Saganami sub-series was rather good, but it seems that Weber is more interested in his worldbuilding than his characters lately, which has a real detrimental effect on the series. Mission Of Honor seemed to be a bit better than the rest, so I hope he can turn it around again, but that hope is relatively slim.

Also, while I am confessing to guilty pleasures, I must admit to being slightly amused by some stuff written by John Ringo. He's not a bad writer, if he can keep that raging right-wing-american stereotype of his in check.

[peterv]

O.K., i know that this is classic and you probably know it already,  but just in case:

Isaac Asimov's: The foundation trilogy.

(the absolute masterpiece  )

[Dragon]

"I, Robot" too (also classic and also by Asimov).
Also, you could try something by Stanislaw Lem, such as "Solaris" and "Invincible". They're both old style "hard" SF, much like most of Lem's works.
Kir Bulyczow's "Pass" and "Settlement" are very good, too.

[bobbtmann]

The good ones I read this month:

Flood by Stephen Baxter (I think). Good book, I felt weird after reading it  (at work we were moving large bodies of water around, so it resonated)

Endymion, by I don't know who. A strange novel. It is the third book in a series, but that didn't affect the read all that much.

Shine, which is a collection of short stories. There were some gems in this book.

Ivory, by Mike Resnick. About the Kilimanjaro elephant's tusks, throughout history.

Zima Blue, by Alastair Reynolds. More short stories.

[General Battuta]

Endymion, by I don't know who. A strange novel. It is the third book in a series, but that didn't affect the read all that much.

Skip Endymion, go to Hyperion, its far superior predecessor. Endymion is okay as a standalone but is so much worse than Hyperion as part of a series that it's painful.